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Frequently Asked Questions

• How many mesh elements can Cubit generate?

Answer: The number of elements depends on whether you are running a 32- or 64-bit system and the amount of memory your system has. When a computer needs to swap to disk, the meshing time is increased.

There are Cubit users who are regularly generating meshes over 500 million elements on a 64-bit Windows machine with 128 gigabytes of memory. Cubit can generate a 27 million element mesh on an 8 gigabyte machine in less than a minute.


• What platforms are supported?

Answer: Cubit versions are available for Windows, Linux, and Mac. Cubit 13.1 supports the following platforms:
• Linux 32- and 64-bit (glibc 2.5 for 64 bit and glibc 2.3 for 32 bit)
• Windows 7, XP, Vista, 32- and 64-bit
• Mac OS X Intel based (10.5-7)


• What file formats does Cubit support?

Answer: Cubit works with most modeling tools and solvers.
• ACIS sat, sab: Geometry import/export
• Pro/E: geometry import/export
• Neutral formats: STEP, IGES
• Facet formats: STL, AVS, facet
• Exodus II: native mesh format
• Abaqus, Patran : mesh and boundary condition export
• NASTRAN BDF, IDEAS Universal, Dyna3D, Fluent: mesh format export only
• Translators: Patran, Abaqus, Pro/E, IDEAS, Matlab, ANSYS and others


• What element types does Cubit support?

Answer: Cubit generates both tetrahedral and hexahedral meshes. No one does hex meshing like Cubit.


• How is Cubit licensed for use on standalone computers and on a network?

Answer: Cubit can be licensed on a per seat basis for standalone machines or on a concurrent use basis for network users. For example, a company with five Cubit licenses may have two licenses installed on two standalone computers and the remaining three licenses can be installed on a network and used by all authorized network users, three users at any given time.


• Does Cubit support mixed element meshes?

Answer: Currently, Cubit does not support mixed element meshes.


• Does Cubit create boundary layer meshes?

Answer: Cubit does a fair job with boundary layer meshing. We are in the process of improving the way we create boundary layer meshes to provide a high-end mesh.